Daily Archives: November 15, 2018

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Plot: Teenagers are kidnapped and made into scarecrows that are left to die in the crop fields

Tagline – It was supposed to be the summer of their dreams.

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Late Night Horror 101

Story: Scarecrows starts when four teenage friends Ash (Gordon), Farbsie (Taylor), Ely (Amin) and Devon (Ziv) head of for a weekend trip at a luxury lagoon, well that is what Farbsie is calling it. Their trip takes them onto farm land where they keep running into crows eating body parts.

After they have their fun, they decide to head back to the car which has gone missing, they head towards the farm for help, only to learn the farmer has his own plans for them as he likes to make his own scarecrows.

Thoughts on Scarecrows

Characters – Ash is the ‘good’ girl out of the two, she is thinking about breaking up with her boyfriend before he goes to college, she is the more sensible of the two friends, though the character gets caught between being the virginal girl and the out going girl. Devon is the best friend of Ash, she is pushing her to dump Ash and believes all men are the same, she is your typica slutty friend. Frabsie is the louder mouth of the two guys, he thinks he is the real deal and supplies the drinks or drugs for the friends, this character feels like Stiffler from the American Pie movies. Ely is the one going off to college, he wants to pop the big question to Ash on this trip, though his eyes often wonder to Devon. Now these are four generic horror characters that do seem to fall into the brackets of the basic characters for horror, though we get the problems with character decisions being made throughout as the chemistry between the doesn’t feel real. The farmer is a silent killing machine, he whistles to warn of his arrival which only makes him feel more terrifying, he strength makes him an threat to anyone who gets in his way.

Performances – The performances from the cast are difficult to judge because they do lack chemistry between themselves, when the horror side of the film starts, it does improve, though the only one that gets a chance to become good enough is Hannah Gordon who gets the most to do.

Story – The story here follows four friends that end up in a remote location where they get picked off by a farmer that wants to make his own scarecrows. Let’s break the story down, first off not once, but twice do the group find body parts and still decide to go on their trip, this is easily one of my pet hates in horror, when people ignore clear warning signs of danger and still continue on. When it comes to just what the killer is up to, this does become twisted and interesting because it would be horrific way to go and to give this character a minor backstory which could have been shown more feels like a missed opportunity. The story is easy to follow, even if certain character decision will leave you wondering about the friendships between the friends.

Horror – The horror does take time to get going, once it does and you think about it, it is quite terrifying what the killer is doing to his victims.

Settings – The film is set in and around a remote farm house, which does create the isolation factor needed with the corn fields making us understand just how scary they can be.

Special Effects – The effects are used slowly at times which is good because we get to see how the preparation unfolds.

Scene of the Movie – The preparation.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Knowing the mouths are sworn shut and still calling out like they will go ‘yeah I am here’

Final Thoughts – This is a solid enough late night horror movie, it will best enjoyed with a drink because certain moments are eye rolling for the most part.

Movie Rob Takes Part in the latest ABC Film Challenge, feel free to join the challenge.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this, Mitch. It’s not your fault. Dammit, Blue was old. That’s what old people do. They die. ” – Beanie

Number of Times Seen – Twice (30 Jun 2003, 27 Jan 2008 and 14 Nov 2018)

Brief Synopsis – Three middle aged men start a fraternity in order to relive their college days.

My Take on it – When Darren told me that he chose this genre for November, I was quite excited and debated for quite a long time what movies I would review for this challenge.

My first pick was this film which I have now seen 3 times and it gets even better upon multiple watches.

They do a great job showing the way that middle age life can sometimes get people down and they therefore want to revert back to living the carefree days that they spent back in college.

The cast of this film is perfect and they help set a great tone for it all.

Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn are both great in their respective roles and they would later be typecast in similar kinds of roles for years afterwards.

The best piece of casting tho in this film is that of Will Ferrell as Frank and it seems as if he was born to play such a great role that seems like an extension of roles he played while he was part of SNL for so many years.

He commandeers EVERY scene he is in and none of the other actors come close to outshining him at all.

The style of humor in this film is very similar to Animal House (1978) and in some ways feels like a modernized version of that classic college fraternity film.

The story just gets funnier and funnier as things move along and works on so many levels.

Bottom Line – Really fun film that shows how men wanting to relive their days of partying in college are faced with the conflicts of a ‘grown up life’. The cast is hilarious with Wilson and Vaughn giving great performances, but Ferrel was born for this kind of role and steals every scene he is in. The humor is perfect for an Animal House (1978) style film set in the 21st Century and it just gets funnier and funnier as the story moves along. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Frank’s streaking scene was shot on a city street. As Will Ferrell remembered it, one of the storefronts was a twenty-four-hour gym with Stairmasters and treadmills in the window. “I was rehearsing in a robe, and all these people are in the gym, watching me. I asked one of the Production Assistants, ‘Shouldn’t we tell them I’m going to be naked?’ Sure enough, I dropped my robe and there were shrieks of pure horror. After the first take, nobody was at the window anymore. I took that as a sign of approval.” (From IMDB)

Story: Ordinary World starts as we follow former punk rocker Perry (Armstrong) who is now married to Karen (Blair) with two children with eldest Salome (Shipman) about to be involved in a talent contest at school. He now has a 9-5 type of job while his wife is a high life lawyer and today is his 40th birthday.

Perry is struggling through, missing his music and lacking the concentration in life, being late for work, forgetting appointments and not enjoying his life, as he goes through his own mid-life crisis. This changes when he decides to have a party with his former band mates and must learn to accept the next stage of his life.

Thoughts on Ordinary World

Characters – Perry was once a punk rocker but he settled down starting a family, but not everything is where he wants his life now. He has a mid-life crisis where he must learn about his life and where it will go next. Karen is Perry’s wife that is a lawyer that brings in the larger amount of the income, but puts up with his distraction mind. Christy is the former flame of Perry’s in his band days, she happens to walk into his life the same time as his mid-life crisis offering him a chance he never got in his music dream.

Performances – Billie Joe Armstrong is good in this leading role as we see him reflect what you could see as an aging musician questioning his place. Blair and Greer are both good in the supporting roles as is the rest of the cast.

Story – The story shows a mid-life crisis from a rocker point of view, it does follow how one day things go in a different way to how he would imagine which is by the books but it works so why change it. The idea of seeing how he is supported by the loved ones is refreshing as he would usually have a bigger freak out but for a feel good mid-life crisis film this hits the marks.

Comedy/Music – The comedy is light through the film as we see how things are going wrong for Perry with the music moments letting Billie Joe show off his skills and true talent.

Settings – The film is set in New York which shows us the different location the family wold be in as well as the big city.

Scene of the Movie – Talent Show.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – You feel certain characters might get mad at some point in this movie.

Final Thoughts – This is a good feel good movie, it has good music and shows how hard it is to let your dreams go.

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